New Jersey

We had a wonderful weekend at New Jersey visiting Mike Very and his family. Saturday morning Caryn (Mike mom) picked us up and took us to their home in the same county that Bruce Springsteen has a house in! Mike is a cancer survivor and we met during his treatment in which he and Dylan shared a hospital room for a few weeks. Mike is doing great after beating Osteosarcoma, and even with his now bionic knee, he still continues as a volunteer EMT, and Firefighter. Mike arranged for the boys to visit the fire house and have a ride in the fire truck, and even though the weather was wet and miserable, we had a great time traveling down the streets with lights flashing and the occasional siren blaring. The Very family have such a special bond and the love that beams from their home is truly uplifting. Saturday afternoon Dylan baked chocolate chip cookies and even made a huge giant cookie. By night we all sat around doing puzzles and then curled up on the sofa watching television. Sunday morning we woke to about 3 inches of snow, the weather had changed rapidly from being rather mild to freezing cold. Mike had rushed out to a fire call and when he returned, Mike’s sister, Kelli, made us all PeeWee Herman pancakes for breakfast. In the afternoon Mike and Kelly prepared for leaving home Monday morning for their next semester at college and we returned back to the Ronald McDonald House. Dylan started treatment again Monday morning and he continues to do very well. Dylan's hair is really starting to grow now, as the chemotherapy dose during this trial is fairly low dose. Dylan even asked me to comb it this morning when he saw me combing Cain's. I tried, but it is not anywhere near combing stage yet, although it seemed to satisfied Dylan. Next Monday will complete the second round of this trial and he is schedule for a scan next Thursday January 26th (Australia Day!). The 26th also marks the anniversary of our arrival in New York, yes it has been a whole year already!